Europe has overtaken North America as the second largest broadband market in the world, with France currently having the most competitive market in Europe.
According to the recent Ogilvyone Report, by the end of 2006, the top three countries in terms of broadband penetration will be the Netherlands at 56%, Switzerland with 51% and Denmark at 49%.
Total online household penetration in Western Europe is forecast to reach 63% by 2010, with 93% of online households expected to use broadband to access the internet.
This vast broadband uptake is dramatically impacting on consumers’ media behaviour across Europe, with an average of 40% of broadband users across Western Europe claiming they spend less time watching TV in favour of the internet.
Across Europe, the 15-24 audience is spending almost a quarter of their media time online, more than spent reading newspapers at 10%, or magazines at 8%. Television, however, continues to represent the largest share of media time at 31%, with radio just ahead of the internet at 27%.
Music is shown to dominate online activity for this age group, with a quarter of 15-24 year olds now buying music online after having previously purchased it in the shops. The report claims that 52% of youths listen to music online now, instead of anywhere else.
Gaming was also found to be a popular online activity for the youth market, with 40% claiming to have visited a gaming website in the past seven days and 17% purchasing a computer game online.
The continued expansion of broadband in Europe, has resulted in an increase in online adspend, with eMarketer revealing that internet adspend in the five largest nations in Western Europe, France, Germany, Italy, Spain and the UK reached €1,863 million in 2005 (see Europe Online Adspend Sees Strong 2005).
| |
| Media Consumption for 15-24 year old Audience in Europe (%) |
| Online |
24 |
| Reading Newspapers |
10 |
| Magazines |
9 |
| TV |
31 |
| Radio |
27 |
| Source: Ogilvyone Report, January 2006 |
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